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Windows activation is part of Microsoft’s “Windows Product Activation” process. Activation differs from the installation process that requires a product code. It is also different from post-installation registration. Instead, the goal of Windows activation is to establish a link between a licensed copy Windows and a specific computer system. Creating such a link in theory should prevent the same copy of Windows from being installed on more than one machine.

Following installation, Windows takes information from your video display adapter, SCSI and IDE drive adapters, processor type and serial number, hard drive serial number and your network adapter Media Access Control address to form a unique identity for your computer. No two computers should have the same hardware signature. When you try to install the same copy of Windows on more than one machine and then try to activate online or by phone, the activation will fail.

Unlike Windows XP and Vista, failure to activate Windows 7 leaves you with an annoying, but somewhat usable system. According to a Microsoft developer blog post on “Microsoft Developer Network,” if you don’t choose to activate Windows 7 during installation, you will see an “Activate Windows Online Now” message in the system tray. If you don’t activate then, you will see and “Activate Now” message every day from day four through day 27. Until day 30, you will get the “Activate Now” message every four hours until day 30. After day 30, you will get the “Activate Now” message every hour, along with a notice that your Windows version is not genuine whenever you launch the Control Panel. In addition, Windows 7 does not perform any system updates after the grace period. Finally, Windows will automatically turn your screen background image to black every hour – even after you change it back to your preference. This behavior continues until you successfully activate Windows 7.

Windows 7 Service Pack Installation

Install From an Disc or ISO That Contains Service Pack 1: Microsoft offers Windows 7 ISO images for download. These ISO images have Service Pack 1 integrated, so you’ll already have Service Pack 1 after installing from them.

Download and Install SP1 Separately: If you installed from an older Windows 7 disc without SP1 integrated, you’ll need to install Service Pack 1 afterwards. Launch Windows Update, check for updates, and install the “Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB976932)” update to install it. You can also download Service Pack 1 directly from Microsoft and install it without going through Windows Update.

Service Pack and Update Center: Windows 7

A service pack (SP) is a Windows update, often combining previously released updates, that helps make Windows more reliable. Service packs, which are provided free of charge on this page, can include security and performance improvements and support for new types of hardware. Make sure you install the latest service pack to help keep Windows up to date. Service packs take about 30 minutes to install, and you’ll need to restart your computer about halfway through the installation.

The recommended (and easiest) way to get updates such as service packs is to turn on Windows Updates for Windows 8.1, Windows 8, and Windows 7 and let Windows notify you when the updates you need are ready to install.

– Get the latest service pack for free

The latest service pack for Windows 7 is Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Learn how to get the right service pack for Windows 7 installed automatically today with Windows Update (recommended).

Get SP1 (advanced)

If you do not see Service Pack 1 in the list of updates

There are a few possible causes. One is that your computer already has Service Pack 1. To check:

1. Go into Control Panel and click on System and Security.

2. Click on System.

3. If you have Service Pack 1 installed already, it will be listed on this screen, as shown in the following example. If that’s the case, you’re done. If not, continue to the next step.

4. The other possibility is that your computer is lacking an update that is a prerequisite to Service Pack 1. We have seen this on some computers with an Intel integrated display adapter. The computer may require a display driver update, followed by a reboot, before the Service Pack will appear on the list.

5. To check to see if an Intel display driver update is available, follow steps 1-7 in the first section on installing the Service Pack. But instead of looking for the Service Pack in the list (step 8), look for an update with a title similar to “Intel Corporation – Display – Mobile Intel(R) Series Express Chipset”. Desktop computers may not have the word “Mobile” in the update title.

6. Click the check box next to the Intel Display update, and click on OK.

7. Click on the button labelled Install updates.

Windows 7 Service Pack SP1 What are the reasons for failure

These failures happen for many different reasons, including:

Running out of space on your hard drive

Turning off your computer while it is in the middle of an update

Installed software that conflicts with one of the updates

Viruses or malware on your computer

Corruption in the Windows system files

Corruption in the Windows registry — the registry is a database where Windows stores much of its configuration